:so-true: :funny-clown-hammer:

Edit: I’m not a lib! I’m not a lib!

https://twitter.com/waitbutwhy/status/1495488331509075969?s=21

  • hwoarang [any]
    ·
    3 years ago

    always difficult to tell from a tweet if people are doing great replacement bits, but countries having very old populations and not enough young people to care for them due to dropping birth rates is going to be a serious problem and I don't understand why people aren't more scared of it.

    • Cowboyitis69 [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      Having a big surplus of young people to care for the elderly is just another luxury of the old world that we will have to give up. I certainly don’t want anyone having kids just so they can wipe my ass later on. I guess what I mean to say is that I don’t feel entitled to it and I don’t think anyone else should either.

      • hwoarang [any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        that's a very bleak view you hold

        people are entitled to a long safe and happy life, I've no doubt there's a time coming where that gets less and and less possible for more and more people, but that's a thing I believe with my heart and giving up on it is not an option

        • Cowboyitis69 [he/him]
          hexagon
          ·
          edit-2
          3 years ago

          I feel giving up on it should be considered if you care about the future generations that are going to be brought into this burning house we call an ecosystem.

          I mean fighting for a better world is great and all, but that doesn’t necessitate dragging another soul into existence to experience a declining, dying world.

          • hwoarang [any]
            ·
            3 years ago

            I imagine we've both had this conversation a few times before and I don't particularly want to have it again. I sincerely hope you have a good day, brother.

            • Cowboyitis69 [he/him]
              hexagon
              ·
              edit-2
              3 years ago

              Who is telling me to have a good day. Show yourself coward, I will never have a good day. /s

              I know the doom and gloom is tiring but I think it’s important that we acknowledge reality. And where we’re heading as a species. And how that’s going to negatively affect future generations, let alone the people currently living. Perhaps the best thing is not to bring them into this hell to begin with. Sorry to push the issue or if I’m repeating myself too much.

                • Cowboyitis69 [he/him]
                  hexagon
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  3 years ago

                  Ensuring that people live long healthy lives does not necessitate bringing more people into the world. You can still fight for the people already living. Perhaps we should think of those people first

                    • Cowboyitis69 [he/him]
                      hexagon
                      ·
                      edit-2
                      3 years ago

                      I don’t think anti-Natalism and the fight for change are mutually exclusive or opposed to one another. I disagree that being opposed to having kids means you’ve given up on the future entirely. But I think it’s going to take a miracle to save the species, and I wouldn’t want my kid’s lives to hinge on a miracle. If my kid asked me why I brought them into a dying world, I don’t think they would appreciate me saying that I did it on the off chance that humanity will start taking this seriously. Idk maybe I’m doing mental gymnastics here.

                      Once I see the countries of the world make serious and sufficient change to avert destruction, I’ll re-evaluate my outlook. Right now all I see is apathy and powerlessness amongst the portion of people who believe this is real. Then you have the other half who refuse to listen. It would demoralize any sane person, I would think anyway.

          • Cowboyitis69 [he/him]
            hexagon
            ·
            edit-2
            3 years ago

            Call me an edgelord and a doomer all you want. We all know we’re not going to adequately deal with this as a species. Not anytime soon.

        • Cowboyitis69 [he/him]
          hexagon
          ·
          3 years ago

          I agree that old people should be cared for lol.

          I just don’t think it’s a valid reason to keep a high birthrate. If we can’t figure out how to care for old people more efficiently with a smaller population of young people, then we kind of deserve to get steamrolled by ecological collapse.

    • SuperNovaCouchGuy [any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Its already a serious problem in Japan and Italy among other neoliberal end stage purgatories but hey the old are useless shitbags who cant contribute to muh society and muh economy anymore so fuck em lol let em rot with the bed maggots i love neoliberalism and wish every single titan of industry a long happy life with their intestines firmly inside their bodies which arent burnt to a crisp 😇

    • Tervell [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      Part of it is probably tech-bro optimism, where we'll just magically figure out some technological solution to the problem, just like how we're totally going to solve climate change with fancy geoengineering.

      There's also the fact that a lot of people are in an economically precarious enough position to not really have the time and opportunity to actually think too deeply about the future.

      And finally - there have been various (alleged) historical practices of geronticide. Considering how society already treats the homeless, and how during Covid we pretty much did actual, not just alleged geronticide in all those nursing homes, it's not really a stretch that a lot of people would be willing to just... overlook things like that.

    • GreenTeaRedFlag [any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      because it wouldn't be as much of an issue if we just had multi-generational housing. end the idea of living alone all the time an aunts and uncles can help with childcare and benefit from eldercare when they are old. simple. as.

      • hwoarang [any]
        ·
        3 years ago

        what about people who don't have families? or whose families can't afford to look after them, or simply won't? or who require specialist or round the clock care?

        just saying "well they can simply live with a group of people who consents to care for them" isn't even close to an answer. and saying simple. as. is obnoxious.

        I live in a multigenerational housing situation to care for my mam, and it's only because there are enough people earning wages and she has a decent pension that we can afford it. the ageing crisis is going to TRIPLE the elderly population worldwide and in certain places it'll be even more.

        if this burden falls on the family unit everything is fucked, there is going to be a huge crisis of social care and it requires a state response.

    • infuziSporg [e/em/eir]
      ·
      3 years ago

      Top-heavy population pyramids present difficulties, but this was always going to be the case, from the time we started developing modern medicine. Amd they're not so catastrophic, especially when compared to the likelihood of having more people all consuming at higher rates.

      TFRs of 1.7-1.9 are just fine, and in this century we really don't want a global TFR above 2.2.

    • zifnab25 [he/him, any]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I don’t understand why people aren’t more scared of it.

      Only the good die young.